Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - Symptoms, Tests & Treatments

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a devastating injury that affects more than 8 million people in the United States and continues to increase each and every year. Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of many repetitive strain injuries (RSI's) that are everywhere; homes, offices, assembly lines, grocery stores, book clubs, construction sites, dental offices, everywhere! Because carpal tunnel syndrome is so commonplace, and its effects so devastating, it is important to be knowledgeable of how it occurs, what its symptoms are, the testing methods used and what treatment options are available, as the prevention of any injury, especially carpal tunnel, begins with education. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder affecting the median nerve, which supplies function to the thumb, index, middle and one half of the ring finger. Usually the symptoms are most prevalent in the thumb, index and middle fingers (Sometimes one-half of the ring finger) and include numbness, tingling, paresthesia (pins and needles), pain and tightness in the front of the hand, wrist and forearm. These symptoms do not have to occur simultaneously, and may only affect one finger one day and then three fingers a few days later. If a doctor provides a carpal tunnel diagnoses and the symptoms are in the ring and little fingers, it is NOT carpal tunnel syndrome! The ulnar nerve, not the median nerve, supplies function to the ring and little finger. Repetitive strain disorders affecting these two fingers are usually either Guyon's syndrome, entrapment of the ulnar nerve in the guyon's canal at the wrist junction, or cubital tunnel syndrome, entrapment of the ulnar nerve at the elbow junction. This is a common mistake made by many, many physicians and is completely inexcusable as they often recommend surgery for the patient, causing the patient to undergo an unnecessary procedure, and what makes it worse, for the wrong disorder! If symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome do arise, doctors will recommend that a nerve conduction velocity (NCV) test or an Electromoyogram (EMG) be performed to see if carpal tunnel syndrome truly exists. These tests are often painful to the individual being tested, very expensive, and often give false positives and false negatives. This is why it is recommended that manual carpal tunnel tests be performed in order to obtain a more accurate (and much cheaper) diagnosis. Manual carpal tunnel tests take no longer than 10 minutes, have a high accuracy rate, are painless and are very cheap in comparison to the NCV and EMG tests. The recommended manual carpal tunnel tests consist of the following: